How to integrate Shippo MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK

This guide walks you through connecting Shippo to the OpenAI Agents SDK using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Shippo agent that can create shipping label for new order, track shipment status by tracking number, get shipping rates for a package through natural language commands. This guide will help you understand how to give your OpenAI Agents SDK agent real control over a Shippo account through Composio's Shippo MCP server. Before we dive in, let's take a quick look at the key ideas and tools involved.

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Shippo is a shipping API for e-commerce merchants to create labels, track packages, and manage shipments. It streamlines shipping operations with multi-carrier support and easy integration.

95 Tools

Introduction

This guide walks you through connecting Shippo to the OpenAI Agents SDK using the Composio tool router. By the end, you'll have a working Shippo agent that can create shipping label for new order, track shipment status by tracking number, get shipping rates for a package through natural language commands.

This guide will help you understand how to give your OpenAI Agents SDK agent real control over a Shippo account through Composio's Shippo MCP server.

Before we dive in, let's take a quick look at the key ideas and tools involved.

Also integrate Shippo with

Claude Agent SDKClaude CodeClaude CoworkCodexOpenClawHermesCLIGoogle ADKLangChainVercel AI SDKMastra AILlamaIndexCrewAI

TL;DR

Here's what you'll learn:
  • Get and set up your OpenAI and Composio API keys
  • Install the necessary dependencies
  • Initialize Composio and create a Tool Router session for Shippo
  • Configure an AI agent that can use Shippo as a tool
  • Run a live chat session where you can ask the agent to perform Shippo operations

What is OpenAI Agents SDK?

The OpenAI Agents SDK is a lightweight framework for building AI agents that can use tools and maintain conversation state. It provides a simple interface for creating agents with hosted MCP tool support.

Key features include:

  • Hosted MCP Tools: Connect to external services through hosted MCP endpoints
  • SQLite Sessions: Persist conversation history across interactions
  • Simple API: Clean interface with Agent, Runner, and tool configuration
  • Streaming Support: Real-time response streaming for interactive applications

What is the Shippo MCP server, and what's possible with it?

The Shippo MCP server is an implementation of the Model Context Protocol that connects your AI agent and assistants like Claude, Cursor, etc directly to your Shippo account. It provides structured and secure access so your agent can perform Shippo operations on your behalf.

What is the Composio tool router, and how does it fit here?

What is Composio SDK?

Composio's Composio SDK helps agents find the right tools for a task at runtime. You can plug in multiple toolkits (like Gmail, HubSpot, and GitHub), and the agent will identify the relevant app and action to complete multi-step workflows. This can reduce token usage and improve the reliability of tool calls. Read more here: Getting started with Composio SDK

The tool router generates a secure MCP URL that your agents can access to perform actions.

How the Composio SDK works

The Composio SDK follows a three-phase workflow:

  1. Discovery: Searches for tools matching your task and returns relevant toolkits with their details.
  2. Authentication: Checks for active connections. If missing, creates an auth config and returns a connection URL via Auth Link.
  3. Execution: Executes the action using the authenticated connection.

Step-by-step Guide

Step by step09 STEPS
1

Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have:
  • Composio API Key and OpenAI API Key
  • Primary know-how of OpenAI Agents SDK
  • A live Shippo project
  • Some knowledge of Python or Typescript
2

Getting API Keys for OpenAI and Composio

OpenAI API Key
  • Go to the OpenAI dashboard and create an API key. You'll need credits to use the models, or you can connect to another model provider.
  • Keep the API key safe.
Composio API Key
3

Install dependencies

npm install @composio/openai-agents @openai/agents dotenv

Install the Composio SDK and the OpenAI Agents SDK.

4

Set up environment variables

bash
OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-...your-api-key
COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your-api-key
USER_ID=composio_user@gmail.com

Create a .env file and add your OpenAI and Composio API keys.

5

Import dependencies

import 'dotenv/config';
import { Composio } from '@composio/core';
import { OpenAIAgentsProvider } from '@composio/openai-agents';
import { Agent, hostedMcpTool, run, OpenAIConversationsSession } from '@openai/agents';
import * as readline from 'readline';
What's happening:
  • You're importing all necessary libraries.
  • The Composio and OpenAIAgentsProvider classes are imported to connect your OpenAI agent to Composio tools like Shippo.
6

Set up the Composio instance

dotenv.config();

const composioApiKey = process.env.COMPOSIO_API_KEY;
const userId = process.env.USER_ID;

if (!composioApiKey) {
  throw new Error('COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set. Create a .env file with COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_key');
}
if (!userId) {
  throw new Error('USER_ID is not set');
}

// Initialize Composio
const composio = new Composio({
  apiKey: composioApiKey,
  provider: new OpenAIAgentsProvider(),
});
What's happening:
  • dotenv.config() loads your .env file so COMPOSIO_API_KEY and USER_ID are available as environment variables.
  • Creating a Composio instance using the API Key and OpenAIAgentsProvider class.
7

Create a Tool Router session

// Create Tool Router session for Shippo
const session = await composio.create(userId as string, {
  toolkits: ['shippo'],
});
const mcpUrl = session.mcp.url;

What is happening:

  • You give the Tool Router the user id and the toolkits you want available. Here, it is only shippo.
  • The router checks the user's Shippo connection and prepares the MCP endpoint.
  • The returned session.mcp.url is the MCP URL that your agent will use to access Shippo.
  • This approach keeps things lightweight and lets the agent request Shippo tools only when needed during the conversation.
8

Configure the agent

// Configure agent with MCP tool
const agent = new Agent({
  name: 'Assistant',
  model: 'gpt-5',
  instructions:
    'You are a helpful assistant that can access Shippo. Help users perform Shippo operations through natural language.',
  tools: [
    hostedMcpTool({
      serverLabel: 'tool_router',
      serverUrl: mcpUrl,
      headers: { 'x-api-key': composioApiKey },
      requireApproval: 'never',
    }),
  ],
});
What's happening:
  • We're creating an Agent instance with a name, model (gpt-5), and clear instructions about its purpose.
  • The agent's instructions tell it that it can access Shippo and help with queries, inserts, updates, authentication, and fetching database information.
  • The tools array includes a hostedMcpTool that connects to the MCP server URL we created earlier.
  • The headers object includes the Composio API key for secure authentication with the MCP server.
  • requireApproval: 'never' means the agent can execute Shippo operations without asking for permission each time, making interactions smoother.
9

Start chat loop and handle conversation

// Keep conversation state across turns
const conversationSession = new OpenAIConversationsSession();

// Simple CLI
const rl = readline.createInterface({
  input: process.stdin,
  output: process.stdout,
  prompt: 'You: ',
});

console.log('\nComposio Tool Router session created.');
console.log('\nChat started. Type your requests below.');
console.log("Commands: 'exit', 'quit', or 'q' to end\n");

try {
  const first = await run(agent, 'What can you help me with?', { session: conversationSession });
  console.log(`Assistant: ${first.finalOutput}\n`);
} catch (e) {
  console.error('Error:', e instanceof Error ? e.message : e, '\n');
}

rl.prompt();

rl.on('line', async (userInput) => {
  const text = userInput.trim();

  if (['exit', 'quit', 'q'].includes(text.toLowerCase())) {
    console.log('Goodbye!');
    rl.close();
    process.exit(0);
  }

  if (!text) {
    rl.prompt();
    return;
  }

  try {
    const result = await run(agent, text, { session: conversationSession });
    console.log(`\nAssistant: ${result.finalOutput}\n`);
  } catch (e) {
    console.error('Error:', e instanceof Error ? e.message : e, '\n');
  }

  rl.prompt();
});

rl.on('close', () => {
  console.log('\n👋 Session ended.');
  process.exit(0);
});
What's happening:
  • The program prints a session URL that you visit to authorize Shippo.
  • After authorization, the chat begins.
  • Each message you type is processed by the agent using run().
  • The responses are printed to the console.
  • Typing exit, quit, or q cleanly ends the chat.

Complete Code

Here's the complete code to get you started with Shippo and OpenAI Agents SDK:

import 'dotenv/config';
import { Composio } from '@composio/core';
import { OpenAIAgentsProvider } from '@composio/openai-agents';
import { Agent, hostedMcpTool, run, OpenAIConversationsSession } from '@openai/agents';
import * as readline from 'readline';

const composioApiKey = process.env.COMPOSIO_API_KEY;
const userId = process.env.USER_ID;

if (!composioApiKey) {
  throw new Error('COMPOSIO_API_KEY is not set. Create a .env file with COMPOSIO_API_KEY=your_key');
}
if (!userId) {
  throw new Error('USER_ID is not set');
}

// Initialize Composio
const composio = new Composio({
  apiKey: composioApiKey,
  provider: new OpenAIAgentsProvider(),
});

async function main() {
  // Create Tool Router session
  const session = await composio.create(userId as string, {
    toolkits: ['shippo'],
  });
  const mcpUrl = session.mcp.url;

  // Configure agent with MCP tool
  const agent = new Agent({
    name: 'Assistant',
    model: 'gpt-5',
    instructions:
      'You are a helpful assistant that can access Shippo. Help users perform Shippo operations through natural language.',
    tools: [
      hostedMcpTool({
        serverLabel: 'tool_router',
        serverUrl: mcpUrl,
        headers: { 'x-api-key': composioApiKey },
        requireApproval: 'never',
      }),
    ],
  });

  // Keep conversation state across turns
  const conversationSession = new OpenAIConversationsSession();

  // Simple CLI
  const rl = readline.createInterface({
    input: process.stdin,
    output: process.stdout,
    prompt: 'You: ',
  });

  console.log('\nComposio Tool Router session created.');
  console.log('\nChat started. Type your requests below.');
  console.log("Commands: 'exit', 'quit', or 'q' to end\n");

  try {
    const first = await run(agent, 'What can you help me with?', { session: conversationSession });
    console.log(`Assistant: ${first.finalOutput}\n`);
  } catch (e) {
    console.error('Error:', e instanceof Error ? e.message : e, '\n');
  }

  rl.prompt();

  rl.on('line', async (userInput) => {
    const text = userInput.trim();

    if (['exit', 'quit', 'q'].includes(text.toLowerCase())) {
      console.log('Goodbye!');
      rl.close();
      process.exit(0);
    }

    if (!text) {
      rl.prompt();
      return;
    }

    try {
      const result = await run(agent, text, { session: conversationSession });
      console.log(`\nAssistant: ${result.finalOutput}\n`);
    } catch (e) {
      console.error('Error:', e instanceof Error ? e.message : e, '\n');
    }

    rl.prompt();
  });

  rl.on('close', () => {
    console.log('\nSession ended.');
    process.exit(0);
  });
}

main().catch((err) => {
  console.error('Fatal error:', err);
  process.exit(1);
});

Conclusion

This was a starter code for integrating Shippo MCP with OpenAI Agents SDK to build a functional AI agent that can interact with Shippo.

Key features:

  • Hosted MCP tool integration through Composio's Tool Router
  • SQLite session persistence for conversation history
  • Simple async chat loop for interactive testing
You can extend this by adding more toolkits, implementing custom business logic, or building a web interface around the agent.
TOOLS

Supported Tools

Every Shippo action and event your agent gets out of the box.

Create Shippo Address

Tool to create a new address in Shippo.

Create Batch

Tool to create a batch of shipments for bulk label purchasing.

Create Carrier Account

Tool to create a new carrier account in Shippo.

Create Customs Item

Create a new customs item for international shipments.

Create Live Rate

Tool to generate live shipping rates from multiple carriers for a given shipment.

Create Manifest

Tool to create a new shipping manifest with Shippo.

Create Merchant Address

Tool to create a new address for a merchant using Shippo's Platform API.

Create Merchant Batch

Tool to create a batch for a merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

Create Merchant Carrier Account

Tool to create a carrier account for a merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

Create Merchant Customs Declaration

Tool to create a new customs declaration for a merchant using Shippo's Platform API.

Create Merchant Customs Item

Tool to create a new customs item for a merchant using Shippo's Platform API.

Create Merchant Order

Tool to create an order for a merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

Create Merchant Parcel

Tool to create a new parcel for a merchant using Shippo's Platform API.

Create Merchant Refund

Tool to create a refund for a merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

Create Merchant Shipment

Tool to create a new shipment for a merchant using Shippo's Platform API.

Create Merchant Transaction

Tool to create a shipping label transaction for a merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

Create Order

Tool to create a new order in Shippo.

Create Parcel

Tool to create a new parcel in Shippo with dimensions and weight specifications.

Create Refund

Tool to create a refund for a Shippo transaction.

Create Service Group

Tool to create a new Shippo service group with specified pricing model and carrier service levels.

Create Shipment

Tool to create a new shipment with Shippo.

Register Tracking Webhook

Tool to register a tracking webhook for a shipment.

Create Transaction

Tool to create a shipping label transaction with Shippo.

Create User Parcel Template

Tool to create a new user parcel template in Shippo with preset dimensions and weight specifications.

Create Shippo Webhook

Tool to create a new webhook subscription in Shippo.

Delete Default Parcel Template

Tool to clear the current default parcel template.

Delete User Parcel Template

Tool to delete a user-created parcel template.

Delete Webhook

Tool to delete a specific webhook from Shippo.

Get Address

Tool to retrieve a previously created address from Shippo.

Get Carrier Account

Tool to retrieve a carrier account by its ID.

Get Carrier Parcel Template

Tool to retrieve a specific carrier parcel template by its token.

Get Carrier Registration Status

Tool to retrieve carrier registration status from Shippo.

Get Customs Declaration

Tool to retrieve a customs declaration by its ID.

Get customs item

Tool to retrieve a customs item from Shippo.

Get Default Parcel Template

Tool to retrieve the current default parcel template for live rates at checkout.

Get Merchant

Tool to retrieve a merchant from the Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Address

Tool to retrieve a merchant address from Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Batch

Tool to retrieve a batch for a merchant from the Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Carrier Account

Tool to retrieve a carrier account for a merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Carrier Registration Status

Tool to retrieve carrier registration status for a specific merchant using Shippo's Platform API.

Get Merchant Customs Declaration

Tool to retrieve a specific customs declaration for a merchant using Shippo's Platform API.

Get Merchant Customs Item

Tool to retrieve a customs item for a merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Manifest

Tool to retrieve a manifest for a merchant from the Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Order

Tool to retrieve an order for a merchant from the Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Parcel

Tool to retrieve a parcel for a merchant from the Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Rate

Tool to retrieve a specific shipping rate for a merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Refund

Tool to retrieve a merchant refund from Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Shipment

Tool to retrieve a shipment for a merchant from the Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Tracking Status

Tool to retrieve tracking status for a merchant from Shippo Platform API.

Get Merchant Transaction

Tool to retrieve a shipping label transaction for a merchant from the Shippo Platform API.

Get Order

Tool to retrieve an order from Shippo.

Get Parcel

Tool to retrieve a parcel by its ID.

Get Rate

Tool to retrieve a specific shipping rate by its ID.

Get Refund

Tool to retrieve a refund by its ID from Shippo.

Get Shipment

Tool to retrieve a shipment by its ID.

Get Shippo Account

Tool to retrieve a Shippo Account from the Shippo Platform API.

Get Tracking Status

Tool to retrieve tracking status for a shipment from Shippo.

Get Transaction

Tool to retrieve a shipping label transaction by its ID.

Get User Parcel Template

Tool to retrieve a specific user-created parcel template by its object ID.

Get Webhook

Tool to retrieve a specific webhook subscription from Shippo.

List Addresses

Tool to list all addresses in the Shippo account with pagination support.

List Carrier Accounts

Tool to list all carrier accounts configured in the Shippo account with pagination support.

List Carrier Parcel Templates

Tool to list all carrier parcel templates available for creating shipments.

List Customs Declarations

Tool to list all customs declarations in the Shippo account with pagination support.

List Customs Items

Tool to list all customs items with pagination support.

List Manifests

Tool to list all shipping manifests from Shippo.

List Merchant Addresses

Tool to list all addresses for a specific merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

List Merchant Carrier Accounts

Tool to list all carrier accounts for a specific merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

List Merchant Customs Declarations

Tool to list all customs declarations for a specific merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

List Merchant Customs Items

Tool to list all customs items for a specific merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

List Merchant Manifests

Tool to list all manifests for a specific merchant using Shippo's Platform API.

List Merchant Parcels

Tool to list all parcels for a specific merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

List Merchants

Tool to list all merchants using the Shippo Platform API with pagination support.

List Merchant Shipment Rates by Currency

Tool to retrieve available shipping rates for a merchant's shipment filtered by currency code using the Shippo Platform API.

List Merchant Shipments

Tool to list all shipments for a specific merchant using Shippo's Platform API.

List Merchant Transactions

Tool to list all shipping label transactions for a merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

List Orders

Tool to list all orders in the Shippo account with pagination support.

List Refunds

Tool to retrieve a list of all refunds from Shippo.

List Service Groups

Tool to retrieve all service groups configured in Shippo.

List Shipment Rates

Tool to retrieve available shipping rates for a specific shipment.

List Shipment Rates by Currency

Tool to retrieve available shipping rates for a specific shipment filtered by currency code.

List Shipments

Tool to list all shipments in the Shippo account with pagination support.

List Shippo Accounts

Tool to list all Managed Shippo Accounts.

List User Parcel Templates

Tool to list all user-created parcel templates.

Purchase Merchant Batch

Tool to purchase a batch for a merchant via the Shippo Platform API.

Remove Shipments From Batch

Tool to remove shipments from a batch for a merchant using the Shippo Platform API.

Update Carrier Account

Tool to update an existing carrier account in Shippo.

Update Default Parcel Template

Tool to update the default parcel template for live rates at checkout in Shippo.

Update Merchant

Tool to update an existing merchant in Shippo Platform API.

Update Merchant Carrier Account

Tool to update a carrier account for a merchant in Shippo Platform API.

Update Service Group

Tool to update an existing Shippo service group.

Update User Parcel Template

Tool to update an existing user parcel template with new weight and carrier template settings.

Update Webhook

Tool to update an existing webhook in Shippo.

Validate Address

Tool to validate an address using the Shippo API.

Validate Merchant Address

Tool to validate a merchant address using the Shippo Platform API.

FRAMEWORKS

How to build Shippo MCP Agent with another framework

Claude Agent SDK logo

Claude Agent SDK

Use Shippo MCP with Claude Agent SDK

Claude Code logo

Claude Code

Use Shippo MCP with Claude Code

Claude Cowork logo

Claude Cowork

Use Shippo MCP with Claude Cowork

Codex logo

Codex

Use Shippo MCP with Codex

OpenClaw logo

OpenClaw

Use Shippo MCP with OpenClaw

Hermes logo

Hermes

Use Shippo MCP with Hermes

CLI logo

CLI

Use Shippo MCP with CLI

Google ADK logo

Google ADK

Use Shippo MCP with Google ADK

LangChain logo

LangChain

Use Shippo MCP with LangChain

Vercel AI SDK logo

Vercel AI SDK

Use Shippo MCP with Vercel AI SDK

Mastra AI logo

Mastra AI

Use Shippo MCP with Mastra AI

LlamaIndex logo

LlamaIndex

Use Shippo MCP with LlamaIndex

CrewAI logo

CrewAI

Use Shippo MCP with CrewAI

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

With a standalone Shippo MCP server, the agents and LLMs can only access a fixed set of Shippo tools tied to that server. However, with the Composio Tool Router, agents can dynamically load tools from Shippo and many other apps based on the task at hand, all through a single MCP endpoint.

Yes, you can. OpenAI Agents SDK fully supports MCP integration. You get structured tool calling, message history handling, and model orchestration while Tool Router takes care of discovering and serving the right Shippo tools.

Yes, absolutely. You can configure which Shippo scopes and actions are allowed when connecting your account to Composio. You can also bring your own OAuth credentials or API configuration so you keep full control over what the agent can do.

All sensitive data such as tokens, keys, and configuration is fully encrypted at rest and in transit. Composio is SOC 2 Type 2 compliant and follows strict security practices so your Shippo data and credentials are handled as safely as possible.

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Karan skipped his own birthday party to fix our critical issue. It was 10pm and he diverted his Waymo to help us instead. This really sets the bar — it shows the commitment you need when users rely on your software.

Harsha Gaddipati
Harsha Gaddipati
Co-founder, Slashy

A lot of students tell us that the moment their connected tools start talking to each other inside Opennote feels almost magical. The agent just knows them, and it's immensely helped keep new users on the platform.

Abhi Arya
Abhi Arya
Co-founder, Opennote

We chose Composio over Pipedream because it delivered depth where it mattered — niche tools and tricky edge cases other platforms simply ignored. That gave us confidence to scale without compromising.

Nirman Dave
Nirman Dave
CEO, Zams

As a solo builder, shipping fast is life or death. The only way I can outcompete incumbents is by outmanoeuvring them. Getting bogged down managing agent auth would have been a death sentence.

Ryan Yu
Ryan Yu
Founder, Extra Thursday

Before Composio, adding tool integrations was slow and resource-intensive. Each one could take weeks of engineering time, and maintaining them meant constantly keeping up with API changes.

Tomisin Jenrola
Tomisin Jenrola
Founder & CEO, SwarmZero

With hands-on help from their founder, we integrated Gmail and Google Drive in just 30 minutes. This level of personal support and commitment is exactly what startups should strive for.

Jerome Leclanche
Jerome Leclanche
Co-Founder, Ingram Technologies